We’re excited to have been included in a new piece by Michael Pinchera in Facility Manager magazine, covering the virtual reality application we developed for the Sacramento Kings.

As we continue working to bridge the gap between BIM (Revit, ArchiCAD) and applications like SketchUp into realtime 3D with game engines like Unity, it becomes increasingly feasible to leverage the use of virtual reality for facility management and venue management.

“I believe there’s a huge opportunity from a venue perspective to have an Oculus Rift station at a ticket booth. When you’re going to buy a ticket, instead of just looking at an image or a floor plan, you actually put the VR glasses on and you’re seeing what the exact view is like from that seat.”—Jon Brouchoud, M.Arch, CEO or Arch Virtual

One of the major benefits of an organized virtual team is the geographical flexibility. Not only can we recruit talented virtual reality and Oculus Rift / GearVR developers from anywhere in the world, but our studio is completely untethered just the same.

In January, we enjoyed a sabbatical in gorgeous Colorado, where we caught up with several of our clients and colleagues there, then headed west to a small town north of Los Angeles where we’ll be setting up shop until spring (at least =). The west coast has a tremendous amount of VR momentum, and we’re here to soak some of it up, along with plenty of southern California sun.

We haven’t had a lot of client work to share the past few months, as every single project we work on these days is strictly confidential (we even offer 20% discounts for projects we can share publicly, to no avail..). However, we’ve been busier than ever, bringing lots of new developers on board. We’ve also been listening carefully to our clients’ feature requests and have been investing in a batch of new tools and capabilities we can now bring to our projects. We will be introducing those as they make their way through beta testing, as these features will be very helpful for the types of trade show exhibits, architectural visualizations, medical applications and a variety of other sales and marketing VR experiences.

In the meantime, we have several extended trips to Los Angeles and San Francisco set up, where we’ll be doing lots of pitches and demos, and spending some time with our friends at SVVR Mixer following GDC in March. See you there?

]]>http://archvirtual.com/2015/02/09/arch-virtual-heads-west/feed/02014 Oculus Rift Development Year in Reviewhttp://archvirtual.com/2014/12/31/2014-oculus-rift-development-year-review/
http://archvirtual.com/2014/12/31/2014-oculus-rift-development-year-review/#commentsWed, 31 Dec 2014 05:12:15 +0000http://archvirtual.com/?p=7169By any measure, 2014 was a breakthrough, banner year for virtual reality. This year saw the release of Oculus Rift DK2, Crescent Bay, GearVR and more

By just about any measure, 2014 was a breakthrough, banner year for virtual reality. This year saw the release of Oculus Rift DK2, demos of the amazing new Crescent Bay, as well as GearVR and lots of other cool tech and supporting hardware that have brought VR to the forefront.

Trying out the Oculus Rift virtual reality experience Arch Virtual created for the Sacramento Kings by Arch Virtual

We had the opportunity to work on some amazing projects again this year, most of which remain confidential, but you can see an overview of the projects we’re able to share on our new Pinterest portfolio [HERE]

Sacramento Kings arena, virtual experience exterior scene

Below are a few year-end highlights and metrics that we’re extremely proud of as we take a look at 2014 and anticipate the years ahead.

Consistent Success and ROI. Second only to introducing someone to VR for the first time, is hearing about the success our clients are realizing with the applications we’ve developed. Every single project we completed this year has been positively received, and nearly every client we’ve worked with has returned with additional projects. In many cases, our clients have reported significant returns on their investment, using their VR apps to pre-sell units in real estate developments, or increasing product sales at trade shows. This is a track record we intend to continue into the new year and beyond.

Client evangelists: Several times this year, we’ve been contacted following demos or project releases by people who are overwhelmingly convinced of the potential for VR and want to join our team, or help demo and sell our services. They’re bit by the same bug we were the day we received our first Oculus Rift, and VR’s gravitational pull has attracted some top-notch people into our network. We’re happy to have them on board.

Branching out: In 2014, we established several new partnerships with some of the largest architecture, construction and real estate development firms. Yet, this work within AEC industries only accounted for about 50% of our work this year, as we branched into exciting new industries, such as manufacturing, automotive, oil & gas, and health care, developing virtual reality applications that help visualize and promote their products and services.

Growing the team: Our development team also grew considerably in 2014, as we were fortunate to recruit lots of new and highly talented developers with specialty expertise that has already improved the quality of our applications dramatically. We’re always looking for more help, so if you’re an expert developer in any contributing field to virtual reality applications (Unity tech, animation, rigging, prop asset modeling, architectural modeling, etc.) please get in touch ASAP!

Scaling: We’ve taken major steps toward scaling our services this year, and have been able to work simultaneously on several large-scale projects without compromising development timeline or quality. We’ve also ironed out a streamlined workflow and strong project management methodology that has led to greater efficiencies. This has allowed us to reduce the cost of our services, and the time it takes us to deliver.

Reinvesting in R&D and Tool Development: We’ve taken the opportunity to make a significant reinvestment into R&D, and the design and engineering of new VR tools and technologies that will shape the future of our core service offerings. During demos and post-mortem project reviews, we hear a lot of “you know what would be nice…” feature requests. We’ve kept track of the input we’ve received, and combined that with some intensive internal brainstorming with our development team to build some exciting new tools and features. We’ll be releasing new demos soon to showcase the same, and hope to excite imaginations around how these new capabilities can be put to use.

Suzuki driving experience for the International Auto Expo

One of this year’s major highlights for me personally, was having the opportunity to meet and show Frank Gehry the Oculus Rift. His company, Gehry Partners has already been doing a lot of high tech visualization and BIM innovation before this, so it wasn’t necessarily anything new to him, but he immediately recognized the potential for architectural visualization and design in VR.

Jon Brouchoud with Frank Gehry

2015 and beyond. Next year is already shaping up to be a significantly bigger year, with several new and exciting assignments already on the boards. In addition to releasing some of the new tools and features we’ve been building, we will also be completing several projects that we’re allowed to share as freely downloadable content for you to try out.

]]>http://archvirtual.com/2014/12/31/2014-oculus-rift-development-year-review/feed/0Earn some cash building your own game, or quit your day job and help us build Oculus Rift VR stuff!http://archvirtual.com/2014/10/23/earn-cash-building-game-quit-day-job-help-us-build-oculus-rift-vr-stuff/
http://archvirtual.com/2014/10/23/earn-cash-building-game-quit-day-job-help-us-build-oculus-rift-vr-stuff/#commentsFri, 24 Oct 2014 00:49:28 +0000http://archvirtual.com/?p=7149Arch Virtual is looking to expand our team of remote in […]

Arch Virtual is looking to expand our team of remote independent contractors, and are particularly interested in working with people who are already passionate about VR and building their own stuff, but have a few cycles free to help us out with projects as needed.

What we do: Arch Virtual primarily develops non-game Rift applications, for use in industries like health care, architecture, manufacturing, oil & gas / energy, marketing and sales, trade show exhibit booths, etc. Our assignments are generally 4 to 6 week sprints, with bi-weekly milestones, built by teams designed to suit the unique needs of each project, combined with a strong project management front to maintain steady, frequent team communication.

What we need help with: Project assignments can range from a few hours to several weeks, so you can work as much, or as little, on our projects as you’d like. You’re free to set your own hourly rate, and make your own schedule to best suit your bandwidth.

Our needs generally fall into the following categories:

Architectural remesh – taking existing 3D models from sources like Revit, ArchiCAD or Sketchup, and converting the meshes to a more sensible, usable format in Unity3D

3D prop development – working with reference images we provide, build low-poly, UV’d (and lightmap UV’d) representations of the same

Unity Integration – pulling together all 3D assets into a coherent, well organized project file, assigning and tweaking shaders, setting up lighting, lightmap baking, working with 3D developers to refine assets, etc.

Programming – developing a wide range of functional elements within our applications, ranging from super simple stuff to much larger, longer term product development

Play Testing / QA – testing applications at each development milestone, ensuring performance and quality standards are met, and suggesting improvements

Sales and Marketing – we’re always looking for individuals or companies who can help find and pitch new business. If you have a DK2, a solid demo rig, and can get in contact with some decision-makers who might be interested in a Rift application within our target markets, we can work with you on a generous sales commission or paid hourly basis to explore those opportunities.

Quit your day job! Or at least help us out nights and weekends! Seriously, these are boom times on the VR frontier, and there’s plenty to keep you busy. If you have solid game dev chops and would love to get into VR development, but you’re stuck in a day job, we might be able to help bridge the gap with a some paid projects while you settle in.

Build your own stuff! If you’re already building your own game and could use some cash to pay the bills in the meantime, we would love to talk. We’re also happy to help promote or even help fund your game when the time comes. We also encourage you to work with other developers on our team to gather feedback, or help finish up any parts of your game we can help out with.

Stick around! Many on our development team have become legacy contributors, working with us on a regular basis. If you’re loving the work and we’re keeping you busy, we’ll transition your role into a full-time position with benefits.

If you’re interested, please send samples of your work and/or a resume or Linkedin profile to jon@archvirtual.com If your stuff looks good, we’ll set up a time to meet in VRChat to discuss next steps!

]]>http://archvirtual.com/2014/10/23/earn-cash-building-game-quit-day-job-help-us-build-oculus-rift-vr-stuff/feed/0New Oculus Rift App: Safety Training and Trade Show Exhibit with SketchUp-to-Unity Development Pipelinehttp://archvirtual.com/2014/08/19/new-oculus-rift-app-safety-training-trade-show-exhibit-atlas-engineering/
http://archvirtual.com/2014/08/19/new-oculus-rift-app-safety-training-trade-show-exhibit-atlas-engineering/#commentsTue, 19 Aug 2014 15:10:13 +0000http://archvirtual.com/?p=6973Atlas Engineering approached us with a SketchUp model of a treatment facility in Australia, wondering if we could create an Oculus Rift virtual reality trade show exhibit for their booth at an upcoming expo that would also serve as an interactive and fun safety training application.

]]>Atlas Engineering approached us with a SketchUp model of a treatment facility in Australia, wondering if we could create an Oculus Rift virtual reality trade show exhibit for their booth at an upcoming expo that would also serve as an interactive and fun safety training application. Oh, and they wanted a zombie somewhere in it too, just for fun. A zombie?!? You just know a project is going to be fun when the client asks for a zombie!

We get lots of Revit and ArchiCAD BIM models for conversion into Unity and Oculus Rift, but not as many SketchUp models for some reason, despite the deep market penetration of this free modeling software that’s become so popular within architectural industries. SketchUp models are nice to work with, even though they still require optimization, because what you see is… well, it’s what you actually see.

With Revit and ArchiCAD, we need to comb through the model to figure out what the player won’t be able to see, so we can delete it. Any face that isn’t visible to the player gets deleted, so it isn’t taking up valuable performance and lightmap space. When you’re targeting performance adequate for Oculus Rift, every face and vertex counts. SketchUp is much more concerned with the visual representation rather than deep integrated construction and engineering components, so optimization is a much more straightforward process.

We remeshed and optimized the SketchUp model, brought it into Unity, brought in some Alloy goodness and engineered a binaural audio makeover for added realism.

We layered in the interactive gaming system, enabling players to find up to 12 safety hazards throughout the scene.

]]>The Panoptic Group, in Chicago, Illinois, jumped on virtual reality and Oculus Rift early on. Since engaging us last year to do a single family home for Oculus Rift, they’ve trusted us to create virtual reality experiences and stand-alone applications for almost all of their new development projects. You can download the virtual model from their site here: http://netzero-living.com/707western/design/

This project, 707 Western, includes 3 sample interior units, each with a unique interior design package by Ingrid Baltasi. We were provided with interior design specifications, outlining specific fixtures, furnishings and finishes for each of the units, along with interior elevations of key features within each unit.

The final deliverable was an Oculus Rift application, complete with our VRUI navigation system, enabling visitors to easily jump to each unit and room without the use of a keyboard or controller. We also delivered a traditional stand-alone application that potential buyers can download and explore without using an Oculus Rift. We also provided 20+ high resolution images taken from the model, along with the promotional animation shown above.

Together, this development package is a far better value, and far more effective than traditional illustrations at showing the potential buyer what a new building will look like before construction starts.

This was also a first attempt at building for DK2, which introduces a number of interesting opportunities and side-effects. I immediately noticed with thee new lateral tracking feature, it’s easy to stick your head through to peak into adjacent rooms! When configured properly, the DK2 experience is absolutely phenomenal.

]]>http://archvirtual.com/2014/08/15/707-western-new-oculus-rift-3d-real-time-application-project/feed/0Thanks Oculus VR! Year 1 on the Virtual Frontier with Oculus Rifthttp://archvirtual.com/2014/08/06/thanks-oculus-vr-year-1-virtual-frontier/
http://archvirtual.com/2014/08/06/thanks-oculus-vr-year-1-virtual-frontier/#commentsWed, 06 Aug 2014 15:40:58 +0000http://archvirtual.com/?p=6912It's hard to overstate the significance of the day our Oculus Rift arrived. It turned our studio inside-out, and completely transformed the way we think about real-time 3D for non-game applications.

]]>Last year, Oculus VR kickstarted a whole new era of virtual reality. It’s easy to take for granted, now that the movement is well underway, but it’s important to remember that none of this would be possible without the ingenuity, persistence and forward thinking vision put forth by Palmer Luckey and the rest of the team at Oculus VR.

The day our first Rift arrived, it turned our studio inside-out and upside down, completely transforming the way we think about real-time 3D for non-game applications. It has been an incredibly fun and intense year on the virtual frontier, and we couldn’t have asked for a more forward-thinking group of clients to lead the way into this exciting new field.

1 year later, we’re building Rift applications for Fortune 500 companies, developing complex equipment in the oil & gas industry, sophisticated medical equipment in health care, manufacturing facilities, and trade shows. We developed safety training applications, converted massive Revit and ArchiCAD BIM into Unity3D and Oculus Rift for architectural visualization, built marketing applications for real estate developers, completed assignments for several of the largest construction companies in the world, and even exploring a variety of scientific visualizations.

We’ve learned a *lot* over the past year of DK1 development, and with the latest version of the Oculus Rift DK2 prototype kit having recently arrived, we’re already seeing it opening the door to a whole new world of capabilities and possibilities for future VR applications. These are enormously exciting times for virtual reality, and we’re excited to have the opportunity to serve clients on the forefront of this exciting new frontier.

In sum, a HUGE thanks to the folks at Oculus VR for the kickstart, and an equally huge thanks to our development team for their tireless effort developing VR applications with us (btw, if you want to join our team, we’re always looking for help!).

]]>http://archvirtual.com/2014/08/06/thanks-oculus-vr-year-1-virtual-frontier/feed/0Oculus Rift Controller-Free Navigation UI for Architectural Visualization and morehttp://archvirtual.com/2014/08/05/oculus-rift-controller-free-navigation-ui/
http://archvirtual.com/2014/08/05/oculus-rift-controller-free-navigation-ui/#commentsTue, 05 Aug 2014 17:32:17 +0000http://archvirtual.com/?p=6900One of the most popular features in our most recent VR projects has been the Oculus Rift controller-free navigation UI system that uses the player's focal point to trigger menu options.

One of the most popular features in our latest VR projects has been the Oculus Rift controller-free navigation UI system that uses the player’s focal point to trigger menu options.

We realized early on, especially in architectural visualization projects, that the VR experience is already so immersive that adding the use of a controller to walk is often confusing to non-gamers, and can cause motion sickness if the player moves too much without first taking some time to become assimilated to the VR experience.

Using the player’s focal point enables them to easily jump to various locations within the environment, simply by centering their focal point on various menu options.

Additional ‘beacon’ targets can be added anywhere in the scene, triggering product animations, or embedded in a 3D model of the building enabling the player to open windows containing more information about an area, or to teleport to various locations on a scaled-down 3D model of the building.

We’re now working on a third version of the system, compatible with the new Oculus Rift DK2 that be even more intuitive and include more features.

]]>http://archvirtual.com/2014/08/05/oculus-rift-controller-free-navigation-ui/feed/0My Uncle David Brouchoud explores an Oculus Rift replica of the USS Helena CA-75 he served on 60 years agohttp://archvirtual.com/2014/07/29/retired-veteran-uncle-david-brouchoud-explores-oculus-rift-replica-uss-helena-ca-75-served-60-years-ago/
http://archvirtual.com/2014/07/29/retired-veteran-uncle-david-brouchoud-explores-oculus-rift-replica-uss-helena-ca-75-served-60-years-ago/#commentsTue, 29 Jul 2014 21:51:59 +0000http://archvirtual.com/?p=6847It was quite an honor to witness my Uncle David Brouchoud explore a virtually recreation of the USS Helena CA-75 he served on more than 60 years ago.

It was quite an honor to witness my Uncle David Brouchoud exploring a virtual recreation of the USS Helena CA-75, a Navy heavy cruiser he served on more than 60 years ago. Using the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, he was able to walk the decks of the ship again, even though it was scrapped in 1974. For the past 60 years, he’s has carefully studied the ship’s history, collecting and cataloging everything he can find on his website USSHelena.org

With the new Oculus Rift application, veterans, historians and anyone interested in the ship’s history can visit the ship virtually, through an application set to be publicly available later in 2014. Future versions will become increasingly accurate and detailed, eventually including historical reenactments of specific events, such as helicopter and life raft search and rescue missions and more.

The model was built in equal parts Autodesk Maya and 3DS, then brought into the Unity3D game engine where the Oculus Rift application was published.

Many special thanks to Mike Lenzi, Michael Chen, Alexis List, Joseph Caddell and RJ Kikuchoyo for their generous contributions to the Virtual USS Helena CA-75 project.

]]>http://archvirtual.com/2014/07/29/retired-veteran-uncle-david-brouchoud-explores-oculus-rift-replica-uss-helena-ca-75-served-60-years-ago/feed/0Oculus Rift + Unity3D + Turbosquid = a Powerful Development Trifectahttp://archvirtual.com/2014/07/13/oculus-rift-unity3d-turbosquid-powerful-development-trifecta/
http://archvirtual.com/2014/07/13/oculus-rift-unity3d-turbosquid-powerful-development-trifecta/#commentsSun, 13 Jul 2014 14:29:47 +0000http://archvirtual.com/?p=6834While most of our projects involve custom development of 3D assets, ways are often able to lower the cost of our development services by incorporating 3rd party content offered by sites like the Unity Asset Store and Turbosquid.

While most of our Oculus Rift projects involve custom development of 3D assets (and we have an outstanding team of developers for the same), we are often able to lower the cost of our services by incorporating 3rd party content offered by sites like the Unity Asset Store and Turbosquid. By leveraging high quality assets from those sites, we can augment our projects with supporting props (otherwise known as ‘entourage’ in the arch viz world), environment assets, or even fully functional interactive systems available on the Unity Asset Store.

As we build storyboards and animatics of Oculus Rift experiences we’re developing, we often draw upon these vast pools of existing resources to help visualize what the final application will look like. It also helps build excitement, allowing our clients to share a preliminary draft of our work to build internal support and anticipation of the final deliverable. Reviewing a written script, or even a storyboard with images, doesn’t come close to what it’s like to put on the Oculus Rift to see firsthand how the scene transitions, timing and animation will be choreographed to create a powerful, jaw-dropping virtual reality experience.

In the above image, we were able to use an Oil Rig developed by 3D_Garden, to create a demo experience for the Oculus Rift. This could be used to showcase the potential of virtual reality and Oculus Rift around oil & gas and other energy sector applications.

In the past, we’ve also made use of Michael O’s Middle-East Environment for various military demos, for use in training, simulation and visualization. We add custom and other prefab assets to these base scenes in order to create complete applications or demos around the specific needs of individual clients.

Of course, not all 3rd party assets are created equal. On Turbosquid, many of the assets are aren’t the best quality, or even completely unusable. As such, it can prove to be a costly gamble in some cases if you don’t know what to look for or how to vet assets to find only the highest quality material. If you do purchase an asset that isn’t the best quality, both the Unity Asset Store and Turbosquid offer outstanding support. Also, for small individual prop assets to support scenes, it’s often quicker to develop custom assets from scratch than to search through various 3rd party resources to find exactly what you’re looking for. But when all you need is quick demo materials, or a relatively complex scene where existing assets happen to be available, Turbosquid and the Unity Asset Store are powerful tools.

Together, this workflow helps speed up our development time, reduces the cost of our services, and enables us to quickly generate powerful demo experiences when we’re pitching a project idea to a new client.

If you’re interested in working with Arch Virtual to create a virtual reality experience for Oculus Rift, send us a note!